What could challenge Washington’s latest strategic goal on Taiwan?

The White House says it wants to deter a conflict over the island, ‘ideally’ through its military advantage

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The US says that one of its priorities is to deter a conflict over Taiwan, “ideally by preserving military overmatch”. Photo: EPA

Published: 9:00pm, 6 Dec 2025

Competing priorities and US economic interests are likely to challenge Washington in its goal of “deterring a conflict over Taiwan” through an overwhelming military advantage, according to experts.

The strategic goal was laid out in the White House’s latest National Security Strategy report released on Friday.

While the report said the western hemisphere and domestic security were Washington’s top concerns, it also noted that “Taiwan provides direct access to the second island chain and splits Northeast and Southeast Asia into two distinct theatres”.

“Hence, deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said.

Beijing has not responded publicly to the strategy but some mainland Chinese media have already called for vigilance, given the report’s more frequent mentions of Taiwan.

In Donald Trump’s first term, the US national security strategy released in December 2017 mentioned Taiwan three times. The strategy released in October 2022 under Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, mentioned Taiwan seven times.

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